Date January 1, 2019 B588

Date: January 1, 2019
B5884
S A R A L. B E C K M A N
S T E F A N I E R O B I N S O N
S E R E N P E N D L E T O N - KN O L L
Rewarding Consumers for Recycling Packaging:
Kimberly-Clark Seeks Shared Value
Senior Lecturer Sara L. Beckman prepared this case study with
Associate Director of the Laboratory for Manufacturing
and Sustainability (LMAS) Stefanie Robinson, Berkeley-Haas
Center for Responsible Business Program Director
Seren Pendleton-Knoll, and with assistance from Case Writer

Elizabeth Whalen, as the basis for class discussion rather
than to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of an
administrative situation.
Copyright © 2017-2019 by The Regents of the University of
California. All rights reserved. No part of this
publication may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted in any
form or by any means without the permission of the
Berkeley Haas Case Series
We are a company manufacturing
primarily disposable products.
If we’re not working to help solve waste issues,
we’re not working on the right things.
—DANI E L LOCKE, SUST AI NA BI L I T Y ST RAT E GY
AND
BUSI NE SS DE VE L OPM E NT AN AL YST, K I M BE RL
Y-CL ARK
As 2015 drew to a close, Kimberly-Clark Corporation
celebrated its recent sustainability
achievements; by December 2015, for example, Kimberly-Clark
had diverted 95.6 percent of its
manufacturing waste from landfill,1 against a goal set in 2010.
At the same time, Kimberly-Clark
was looking forward to introducing its sustainability goals for
2022, the year that will also mark
the company’s 150th anniversary in business. The company’s
2022 sustainability goals extend the
zero-waste mindset to all Kimberly-Clark solid wastes, not just
those produced directly by its
manufacturing operations. Specifically, the company set the
goal of cumulatively diverting
150,000 metric tons of post-consumer product and packaging

waste from landfills between 2016
and 2022.2
1 Kimberly-Clark 2015 Sustainability Report, “Sustainability
for a Better Life”
2 Kimberly-Clark 2015 Sustainability Report, “Sustainability
for a Better Life”
For the exclusive use of b. Yu, 2021.
This document is authorized for use only by bingjie Yu in MKT
257A Spring 2021 taught by ANDREW FORMAN, Hofstra
University from Mar 2021 to Sep 2021.

KIMBERLY-CLARK FLEXIBLE FILM PACKAGING 2
Charged with helping Kimberly-Clark achieve the packaging
component of that goal are two
members of the sustainability team: John Opsteen, Secondary
Materials Program Leader, and
Daniel Locke, Sustainability Strategy and Business
Development Analyst.
“We’d never set this type of externally facing target that has to
do with the products and
packaging after consumption,” said Opsteen. “The goal was set
based on a pipeline of ideas that
we believe can get us into the ballpark. We’re working to
identify opportunities that create value
for the entire supply chain. It’s really an evolution from the
linear mindset where you take, make,
and then dispose of things. We’re working to create a more
circular business model that allows
us to recapture materials for reuse.”
Of particular interest to Opsteen and Locke are packages made
of flexible plastic film, which are
wrapped around a large share of Kimberly-Clark’s products,
including diapers, paper towels,
toilet paper, and feminine hygiene products, as well as similar
products made by other companies.
These packages, which are made of material similar to that in
plastic shopping bags, serve several
purposes. They keep the products clean during transport and on
store shelves; they help market
the products, and they contain the Universal Product Code

(UPC) that is scanned at the store
register.
Flexible plastic film is currently the best packaging material
available to Kimberly-Clark. “From
a greenhouse gas perspective, the film is superior. It’s the
lightest, most hygienic material we can
consume. Everything about it, except for its disposal, is better
than the alternatives,” Opsteen
explained. The company can also package a large amount of
product for a relatively low cost, in
part because a single package, which weighs about two grams,
can be made with very little plastic
resin.
However, public perception of plastic shopping bags appears to
be turning negative, with some
communities banning these bags. These perceptions may
eventually apply to flexible film
packaging, which is one driver of Kimberly-Clark’s interest in
diverting the films from landfills.
“It’s very important to Kimberly-Clark that we continue to use
flexible film,” Opsteen said.
Other key motivators for the focus on flexible film packaging
are its prevalence in packaging of
all kinds and the fact that very little of it is recycled.3
According to draft estimates from the Closed Loop Fund, a
social impact fund, approximately 3.2
billion pounds of flexible plastic film are disposed of by
households each year in the U.S. That
amount includes both film packaging and plastic shopping bags.
Approximately 300 million
pounds of film enter municipal recycling facilities (MRFs) each
year, but only about ten million
pounds of that film is recycled because most MRFs are not

equipped to process it. The remaining
290 million pounds are landfilled.
The fact that flexible plastic film can be returned to stores for
recycling presents a key
opportunity; approximately 18,000 acceptance locations now
exist in the U.S.4 Stores sell the
collected film to plastics recycling companies that recycle it
into film, rigid plastics, and other
products. Stores also sell film to other companies, including
Virginia-based Trex, which
combines recycled film with recycled wood to produce
composite lumber used in decking and
fencing.5 The Closed Loop fund estimates indicate that about
136 million pounds of flexible
3 Other teams within Kimberly-Clark are working on other ways
to reach the post-consumer waste-diversion goal.
4 2013 National Postconsumer Plastic Bag & Film Recycling
Report, prepared by Moore Recycling Associates Inc. for
the American Chemistry Council, February 2015.
5 Trex website: http://www.trex.com/why-trex/eco-friendly-
decking/
http://www.trex.com/why-trex/eco-friendly-decking

plastic film is recycled each year, 126 million pounds through
store drop-off and ten million
through MRFs, for a total recycling rate of less than four
percent.6
To encourage consumers to return these films, thereby keeping
them out of landfills, Opsteen and
Locke are considering developing a consumer rewards program
that would increase film
recycling and allow Kimberly-Clark to track both the total

amount of film returned and individual
consumer behavior. Tracking would, in turn, help the
sustainability group accurately describe
goal progress to company brand leaders and the company to
publicly communicate its
performance.
“At the end of the day, we’re trying to divert materials from
landfills to give them a second life,”
clarified Locke. “That’s more important than tracking, but we
hope to accomplish both together.”
Opsteen believes that the recovery value of the film itself is too
low to fund rewards substantial
enough to encourage consumers to return films to a store.
However, he also believes continued
use of the films is an important issue for other entities in the
plastic-film value chain. This is
where Opsteen and Locke see opportunity: perhaps these other
entities, particularly retailers, also
see enough business value in maintaining use of the films, and
in the consumer data a rewards
program would collect, that they would be willing to help fund
such a program.
Regardless of the form the program takes and how it’s funded,
it needs to create a significant and
measurable increase in post-consumer recovery rates for
Kimberly-Clark to consider it a success.
“We don’t want to go through this process of creating a
platform and then have consumers not
participate in it. We’ve really got to think long and hard about
what’s going to motivate and
drive a consumer to participate,” Locke said. “Then, we need to
work together with key

stakeholders in the value chain to make the program as
successful as possible.”
Enabling Recycling through the How2Recycle Program
The flexible film Kimberly-Clark uses to package many of its
consumer products is sometimes
called single-layer polyethylene film (SLPF)7 because it does
not contain layers of other
materials, such as metal foil found in some drink pouches, or
adhesives.
The SLPFs act as a contaminant in most U.S. municipal
recycling programs because the programs
are single-stream; that is, paper, cardboard, rigid plastic
containers, and glass and plastic bottles
are collected in one bin rather than separated into different bins.
The processes and equipment
now common at single-stream MRFs are not designed to handle
the lightweight SLPFs, which
can wrap around sorting equipment, reduce efficiency for other
recyclables, and add costs.8
Those SLPFs that come in contact with other recycled materials
in single-stream bins and at
single-stream MRFs may stick to other materials, particularly if
wet or affected by static
electricity. Or, they may collect nearby dirt or residues from
other materials and become
extremely difficult to separate, causing contamination.
6 Calculated based on 126 million pounds out of a total of 3.2
billion pounds.
7 This term is used to ensure clarity and simplicity in this case
study. It is not necessarily a term used throughout the
plastics industry.

“The quality and the cleanliness of the film after passing
through a single-stream process
immediately present challenges to its reuse and recyclability,”
said Opsteen. “Even if single-
stream MRFs did modify their assets to not treat the film as a
contaminant, and they were actually
able to pull it through the system, the film would have to be
cleaned.” Indeed, film collected
through curbside programs has historically had far less scrap
value than bags and films collected
at retail stores, which are largely free of contaminants.9
As a result, most single-stream MRFs do not accept SLPFs,
leaving consumers with two options:
throw the films away or deposit them in collection bins at retail
locations. These bins, often
located near the store’s entrance, are also designed to accept
plastic shopping bags.
To make consumers aware of the store drop-off option,
Kimberly-Clark has partnered with
How2Recycle, an initiative of the Sustainable Packaging
Coalition (SPC),10 which is led by
environmental nonprofit GreenBlue. How2Recycle has
developed standardized labels that its
brand members may put on packaging. The labels show
consumers 1) how to prepare a package
for recycling, 2) whether and how the package can be recycled,
3) the recyclable material, and 4)
to which part of the package the label applies. For example, for
SLPFs, the top part of the label

says “Recycle if Clean & Dry.” The next part of the label,
which includes the international
recycling symbol of three arrows in a triangle, says “Store
Drop-Off” for SLPFs. (For widely
recyclable packaging, the symbol includes no additional text.)
The third part of the label on
SLPFs reads “Plastic,” and the fourth part says “Wrap.”11
Running down the right side of the
rectangular label is “how2recycle.info,” to encourage consumers
to visit the How2Recycle
website. (See Exhibit 1 for examples of How2Recycle labels.)
The website also includes a store
locating function to allow consumers to easily identify nearby
retail locations that accept SLPFs.
How2Recycle developed its labels to reduce confusion among
consumers about what is and is not
recyclable because this tends to vary from community to
community. It also developed the labels
to follow the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Green Guides,
which help marketers “avoid
making environmental marketing claims that are unfair or
deceptive” under the FTC Act.12 If, for
example, the How2Recycle label indicates the packaging i s
widely recyclable, at least 60 percent
of Americans can recycle it through curbside or drop-off
recycling programs.
Plastic films with the “Store Drop-off” label must meet
recyclability criteria. Some Kimberly-
Clark products, such as wet wipes, require moisture-barrier
characteristics in the plastic film that
currently render the packages non-recyclable.13 Therefore, the
How2Recycle label on packages
like these should contain a line through the recycling symbol
directing consumers to throw away

the package.
Kimberly-Clark pays an annual licensing fee to How2Recycle to
use the labels. How2Recycle
members may choose to place the labels on all or just a portion
of their product packaging.
Kimberly-Clark currently puts the label on most of its products,
approximately 900 of them, and
10 The coalition consists of member companies throughout the
packaging supply chain, including waste management
companies. Not all members of the coalition participate in the
How2Recycle program.
11 Some packages, such as a paper box wrapped in plastic,
contain multiple components; these packages will have a
How2Recycle label with information for each component.
12 https://www.ftc.gov/sites/default/files/attachments/press -
releases/ftc-issues-revised-green-guides/greenguides.pdf
13 If Kimberly-Clark developed a new film with the necessary
moisture-barrier properties that is recyclable, that would
fall under the third prong of the product and packaging post-
consumer waste-reduction goal, which is explained in the
“Kimberly-Clark’s Packaging Sustainability Goal” section.

https://www.ftc.gov/sites/default/files/attachments/press-
releases/ftc-issues-revised-green-guides/greenguides.pdf
https://non-recyclable.13
the majority of its retail-facing products are wrapped in plastic
film.

Prior to establishing its partnership with How2Recycle in 2014,
Kimberly-Clark had an
agreement with another recycling labeling and collection
program. That program tracked return
rates because it required consumers to mail in the packaging.
Kimberly-Clark chose to switch to
How2Recycle because the previous program’s annual price was
high relative to the participation
rate. “Our return on investment was low even though there were
a lot of touch points for the
previous program. There was a lot of social media buzz, et
cetera, but we weren’t getting the
number of packages back that we were hoping,” elaborated
Kathleen Gauger, a member of
Kimberly-Clark’s North American consumer packaging team
who oversees the company’s
relationship with How2Recycle.
Through the previous program, consumers got a credit of
approximately two cents for each
Kimberly-Clark package returned that would go to a charity of
their choice. Kimberly-Clark paid
for those credits, but “the scope and efficacy of the program
needed improvements. Due to this,
Kimberly-Clark decided to search for alternative programs with
a more holistic approach,” said
Becky Walter, a research and engineering leader and
sustainability champion at Kimberly-Clark.
Another issue with the previous program was that the labels did
not apply to materials the
program did not accept. The How2Recycle labels can go on a
wide range of products. “It
reaches all the material types used in packaging, and it is based
against industry and nationwide
studies to say what different collection agencies can take or not.

It helps consumers know what
can go in this stream and what should not go in this stream,”
Gauger said. “And it even has the
logo to say not to recycle certain materials because they are not
compatible.”
Raising Consumer Awareness
Since February 2012, consumers visiting how2recycle.info have
had the option to take a survey
about the label, their recycling behavior, and their perceptions
of brands using the How2Recycle
label. Between the survey’s launch and January 31, 2016, 1,900
responses to the survey have
been recorded.14 Seventy-two percent of respondents indicated
they found out about
How2Recycle by seeing the label on a package. Half of the total
respondents said they had
changed their behavior based on the label or website, and of
these, 46 percent said the change was
dropping off a plastic bag or film at a store for recycling.
Between early 2014 and early 2016,
320 total respondents indicated they have started recycling
plastic bags and films as a result of the
How2Recycle label.
Of those survey respondents who saw the label on a product, 77
percent said they had a more
positive impression of the brand making the product as a result;
18 percent said their impression
of the brand remained the same. Between July 2015 and January
2016, the number of
respondents indicating they had seen the label on a Kimberly-
Clark product increased 70 percent.
How2Recycle generally attributes these increases to a brand
adding the How2Recycle label to

more of its products or to an increase in the volume of the
brand’s How2Recycle-labeled products
in the marketplace. (See Exhibit 2 for more data on responses to
the survey, including the
number of respondents for each question.)
To Kelly Cramer, senior manager at the SPC and leader of the
How2Recycle program, the survey
results indicate the large potential to increase recycling by
educating consumers. “People don’t
14 How2Recycle Consumer Survey Report, March 2016.
https://recorded.14

realize that they can recycle the films at the store, but they are
realizing that more and more
because of the How2Recycle label,” she said. Anecdotally,
Cramer has also found that people are
pleasantly surprised to discover, through the label, that they can
recycle plastic film packaging
along with plastic bags. “The label itself is such a powerful
education tool,” she added. “It is the
main piece when it comes to education, and it does a lot. We’re
packing a lot of information
about packaging recyclability into a simple and elegant label
design.”
Still, she believes that other entities in the packaging supply
chain have a role to play in
education. “I think that retailers could make their signage
clearer about what they accept, and I
think that signage could be more uniform,” she explained.
“Sometimes people are confused if it
just says it accepts plastic bags. Sometimes, they want
confirmation that it’s definitely OK to put

a toilet paper wrap or similar plastic wrap in the bin.” At other
times, consumers are unsure what
to do if a bin appears full; Cramer thinks it would be helpful to
have a sticker on the bin that says
consumers can indeed pack in additional films.
“One critical way that brands can increase the impact of the
How2Recycle label is by putting it in
a prominent place on a package, which I see Kimberly-Clark
doing,” Cramer said. “On
Cottonelle, for example, the How2Recycle label is on the back
of the package next to all the other
consumer information that one would read.” She also notes that
Kimberly-Clark uses
How2Recycle labels that exceed minimum size requirements
and prints them using a process that
makes the text sharp and easy to read.
“There are also a lot of opportunities online, through social
media and digital media storytelling,
to let people know this is something you can do,” she continued.
“If I were in the position of a
brand company, I would scream about the store drop-off label
from the rooftops because I didn’t
even know plastic film packaging was recyclable until I worked
at GreenBlue.”
Going from Education to Behavior Change
Cramer recently learned about a three-step behavior-change
model developed by B.J. Fogg: 1) get
specific about the behavior you want, 2) make it easy and
remove obstacles to the target behavior,
and 3) trigger the behavior.15
“We think the How2Recycle label fits into all three of those

pieces,” Cramer said. “We want
people to recycle, so we tell them exactly how. We make it
really easy for people to look at the
label and know what to do, and since no behavior happens
without a trigger, I think it really helps
consumers to have that label on package to remind them to
recycle.”
To date, Kimberly-Clark has not added promotional information
to its product packaging
specifically telling consumers that the How2Recycle label has
been added to the package. “That
would compete with other messages on pack, such as the
different features of the product,”
Gauger said.
The company also has not run advertising campaigns
specifically telling consumers that the
How2Recycle label is on its products. “Packaging is not the
primary reason consumers buy our
products,” added Walter. Therefore, she doubts the company
would feature information about
packaging sustainability in its advertising campaigns. But,
Kimberly-Clark might use other
channels, such as its website or its annual sustainability report,
which featured the program in
15 The Fogg Method, http://www.foggmethod.com/
http://www.foggmethod.com

https://behavior.15
2016,16 to publicize the How2Recycle program.
Kimberly-Clark is one of many well-known brands participating
in the How2Recycle program;

others include Walmart, Wegmans,17 Coca-Cola, Kellogg’s,
Clorox, and Verizon. According to
Opsteen, many of the participating companies that use SLPFs
are exploring how to support SLPF
recycling, and retailers in particular are educating consumers
about SLPF recycling. To his
knowledge, however, Kimberly-Clark is the only How2Recycle
participant seeking to incentivize
consumer behavior change with respect to SLPFs.
The Market for Recycled Plastic Film
After SLPFs are deposited into store collection bins, the retailer
bales them and sells them to a
commercial recycler or to a company like Trex, the composite
lumber maker. Many retailers also
bale and sell other waste, including stretch film wrapped around
pallets of goods and corrugated
paperboard, so a collection process and return infrastructure
already exist for post-consumer
films. Some retailers separate stretch film from dropped-off
bags and packages; some do not.
Buyers of SLPFs include Novolex, a company headquartered in
Hartsville, South Carolina that
produces a variety of packaging products, including paper and
plastic bags. Novolex has two
plastic-film recycling facilities of its own and contracts with
other recycling facilities around the
U.S.
Novolex’s owned facilities are currently operating at maximum
capacity and unable to accept
additional film input, according to Phil Rozenski, Senior
Director of Sustainability for Novolex.
In addition, each facility processes a different input stream of

film. One processes primarily post-
consumer shopping bags returned to grocery stores. The other
processes plastic films
individually wrapped around apparel items, such as sweaters,
that are shipped from overseas
factories to shopping malls. Store workers remove these films
before displaying the apparel on
racks and shelves.18 The contamination in each stream differs:
for shopping bags, the primary
contaminant is receipts; for apparel wraps, it is labels and the
adhesives that attach the labels to
the bags. Removing these contaminants requires different
processes, and matching the input
stream to the facility’s contaminant-removal process increases
efficiency.
Total capacity in the U.S. is slowly growing. According to
Rozenski, one or two new facilities
that process plastic films come on line each year. Support for
film recycling is also coming from
other sources. For example, the Closed Loop Foundation19
recently partnered with SC Johnson,
maker of Ziploc bags, to award $300,000 in grant money to two
recycling companies for film-
related projects.20 However, Rozenski says new firms face risks
related to the nature of plastics
recycling, which differs from aluminum, paper, and glass
recycling.
When energy consumption rises in response to low oil prices,
plastic production rises and prices
fall. The current low oil prices are increasing the amount of
virgin plastics available, and
recycled plastics never sell for more than virgin plastics do.
16 http://www.kimberly-

clark.com/sustainability/Pages/Reports/WasteandRecyclingRepo
rt.aspx#Innovating
17 Wegmans is a grocery chain serving the Mid-Atlantic and
New England regions.
18 Consumers do not receive these films with in-store purchases
but may receive them through online or catalog orders.
19 The Closed Loop Foundation is the nonprofit arm of the
Closed Loop Fund.
20 Environmental Leader,
http://www.environmentalleader.com/2016/09/22/closed-loop-
foundation-awards-300k-to-
plastic-film-recyclers/#ixzz4Lf5UpfVf
http://www.environmentalleader.com/2016/09/22/closed-loop-
foundation-awards-300k-to
http://www.kimberly-
clark.com/sustainability/Pages/Reports/WasteandRecyclingRepo
rt.aspx#Innovating
https://projects.20
https://shelves.18

“There’s a risk when you invest in recycling,” Rozenski said.
“Prices were up two years ago, and
it was a great time to be in plastics recycling. It has swings like
no other product.”
Demand for films containing at least some recycled content is
growing. In fact, Novolex added
the second of its two owned facilities to respond to this demand.
It also continues to expand its
relationships with other recycling facilities. A key driver of this
demand is the desire to reduce
costs. For example, buyers of Novolex’s plastic shopping bags
include grocery stores, which also
collect used bags and SLPF packaging. “We’ll recycle it and use
that lower-cost material in their
bags and share that benefit with them,” Rozenski said. Because

the stores collecting the material
are also buying the bags Novolex makes from that material,
transaction costs are lower than they
would be if virgin plastic were used or if a third party, such as
another manufacturer, were
involved. “We’ve found a way to save that cost for everybody.”
Kimberly-Clark’s Packaging Sustainability Goal
Founded in Wisconsin in 1872, Kimberly-Clark is now
headquartered in Dallas, Texas; it
operates in 36 countries and employs approximately 43,000
people worldwide.21 Its products,
which include Kleenex facial tissue, Huggies diapers and wipes,
Scott paper towels, Cottonelle
toilet paper, and Kotex feminine care products, are sold in more
than 175 countries.22
The company’s 2022 sustainability goals cover five pillars, one
of which is waste and recycling.23
It is under this pillar that the goal of diverting 150,000 metric
tons of product and packaging
waste from landfills falls. To achieve the goal, Kimberly-Clark
is taking a three-pronged
approach. The first is developing a post-consumer waste
recovery program, which could include
the proposed consumer rewards program. The second focuses on
re-designing products to reduce
their material content while maintaining their performance. One
example is Scott Tube-Free
toilet paper, which eliminates the cardboard tube at the center
of the roll. The third prong is
designing for recyclability, which focuses on finding ways to
increase the recyclability of
products and packaging.

Savings and diversions from any of these programs may count
towards the 150,000 metric ton
goal. For example, Kimberly-Clark is counting the weight of the
toilet paper tubes it is not
putting into the market, through sales of its Scott Tube-Free
product, towards the goal.
When it comes to calculating the contribution of post-consumer
waste recovery to the goal,
enabling the recovery of Kimberly-Clark product packaging is
just one component. That is, the
company packages as many of its products as it can in films
eligible for store drop-off recycling
but counts towards its diversion goal only those that are
actually recycled. At present, the
company estimates how many of its eligible packaging films are
returned based on the Closed
Loop Fund estimates of the total amount of films returned.
Current estimates indicate
approximately 3.9 percent24 of recyclable packaging films are
returned to stores for recycling, so
Kimberly-Clark would count 3.9 percent of the weight of its
recyclable film packaging towards
the goal. To the extent that the estimated percentage changes,
Kimberly-Clark would adjust the
amount counting towards its goal.
21 Kimberly-Clark company profile: http://www.kimberly-
clark.com/newsroom/media_resources/companyprofile.aspx
22 Kimberly-Clark 2016 Fact Sheet, http://www.cms.kimberly-
clark.com/umbracoimages/UmbracoFileMedia/2016
KMB Fact Sheet_umbracoFile.pdf
23 The other four pillars are social impact, forests and fiber,
energy and climate, and supply chain.
24 Calculation based on 126 million pounds recycled through

store drop-off out of a total of 3.2 billion pounds.
http://www.cms.kimberly-
clark.com/umbracoimages/UmbracoFileMedia/2016
http://www.kimberly-
clark.com/newsroom/media_resources/companyprofile.aspx
https://recycling.23
https://countries.22
https://worldwide.21

If Kimberly-Clark develops a program that collects specific data
on return rates of Kimberly-
Clark films, that data would replace these estimates in the
company’s goal-progress calculations.
If data from the program, or from another innovation that
Kimberly-Clark introduces, shows
increased consumer return of films, packages from other
companies’ products could also count
towards the goal.
“Ideally, if we can mobilize the right group of stakeholders,
build in some incentives, and
properly seed this in the right retailers—let’s say we get a ten
percent lift in return and we can see
that through data—we can say how many tons of film we’ve
diverted from the landfills,”
explained Opsteen.
Long-Term Packaging and Recycling Alternatives
Kimberly-Clark is unlikely to replace the SLPFs it now uses
with a different form of packaging.
The company has made substantial investments in packaging
equipment and other assets. These
investments, in combination with the appealing characteristics
of the films themselves, reinforce

Kimberly-Clark’s continued use of SLPFs.
However, the material the films are made of may eventually
change to include more bio-based
plastics. “That, to me, would be game changing,” said Brent
Thompson, a member of the
Kimberly-Clark corporate research and engineering team. These
materials are currently too
expensive to be cost-effective for Kimberly-Clark’s operations,
and low oil prices are increasing
the cost gap. If and when those conditions change, Thompson
expects the marketplace will begin
to shift away from non-renewable, petroleum-based plastics to
bio-based plastics.
Today, Kimberly-Clark uses some recycled plastic in its film
packaging, the source for which is
recycled rigid containers, such as milk jugs, not recycled film.
These containers are more widely
available than recycled films are, and they are denser. As a
result, the number of recycled rigid
containers required to make a given number of new film
packages is much lower than the number
of returned film packages would be.
Rigid containers are also typically made with similar materials,
regardless of the supplier. Milk
jugs, for example, are made essentially the same way from the
same resin by most suppliers, but
the contents of film packaging varies from supplier to supplier.
The consistency of input
materials is crucial to meeting Kimberly-Clark’s packaging
specifications. Inconsistent inputs
can adversely affect the performance of the final packaging
product in unknown ways, and
determining those impacts for every variation of input can

become an exhausting, cost-prohibitive
process.
However, resins made from recycled films are more chemically
similar to new films than resins
made from rigid containers are, so recycled film resin can be
processed into new film at a lower
cost. As a result, Thompson would prefer recycled film to rigid
containers as an input, but
consistency remains a problem. “From a cost standpoint, if there
was a consistent market, we
would be willing to pay more for consistent film made from
recycled material [than inconsistent
film],” he explained. “And as a result, we could use it at a
higher percentage because it’s
consistent and therefore its properties are predictable. If it’s
inconsistent, you can’t put in a larger
amount of recycled polymer due to the increased risk to the
final packaging performance.”
Opsteen and Locke see the How2Recycle label and the proposed
consumer rewards program as
helping address this issue because the two programs are
intended to increase the availability of a
consistent recycled film and reduce the cost of resins made from
that material. The label is also

designed to help reduce contamination, both by requiring
packages to meet recyclability
standards and by educating consumers about what may and may
not be placed in store drop-off
bins.
Another long-term change could come at the MRFs. “The way I
look at this issue, we need to go

down parallel paths,” said Bridget Croke, head of external
affairs for the Closed Loop Fund,
which invests in the physical infrastructure component of
programs designed to increase
recycling.25 The first path is maximizing the use of the existing
film-recycling system of store
return. The second is innovating collection and processing to
expand the types of materials that
people can recycle through municipal programs. “[Accepting
films] is an engineering barrier,
and I think it’s a huge perception barrier for MRFs, which I
think is probably going to be even the
bigger issue if we solve the engineering challenge,” Croke said.
“But technically, it’s possible;
it’s feasible but would require a lot of work. If we can build the
end market and drive value in the
material type, it’s money to be made for these guys, and if they
can make money on it, there’s an
engineering solution to be had.”
Whether MRF collection of SLPFs occurs or not, it will almost
certainly not happen in time to
support Kimberly-Clark’s 2022 goal, and the transition could be
expensive. “There was a lot of
money put into single-stream recycling here in the U.S.,” said
Locke. Changing that model
would require similarly large investments, so collecting flexible
films in a store-drop off program
“is probably the quickest and most economical way to go at this
point,” he added.
What Drives Consumers to Recycle
Locke, Opsteen, and their colleagues across multiple divisions
at Kimberly-Clark view the
How2Recycle labels as the first step to changing consumers’

habits. The Kimberly-Clark team
segments consumers into categories with respect to their
willingness to recycle. Although some
people recycle because doing so is part of their self-perception
and value system, this group is the
minority. Most people will change their behavior only in
response to financial incentives. The
Kimberly-Clark team cites data from states in which consumers
pay a deposit on beverage
containers as strong evidence for the idea that rewards can
increase recycling. For example,
according to the Container Recycling Institute (CRI), a
nonprofit that advocates for deposit
legislation, beverage container recycling rates in states with
these laws are approximately 60
percent; in states without these laws, rates are about 24
percent.26 The team also sees the Box
Tops for Education program as evidence that consumers are
willing to return packaging in
exchange for a financial reward. Through this program, parents
clip out a label from products
they purchase and send those labels to their child’s school.27
The school turns in the labels and
receives a check based on the number returned.28
A consumer rewards program for SLPF recycling would
encourage consumers to see the
packaging itself as having value, just as container-deposit and
the Box Tops for Education
programs do, while simultaneously helping divert the films from
landfills.
Today, consumers do drop off plastic shopping bags at stores,
an act that typically comes with no
financial reward. According to a study Novolex conducted,
between 60 and 75 percent of bags

are reused for other purposes, such as lining trashcans. About
15 percent of bags are recycled.
25 For example, the fund provides low-interest loans to finance
MRF equipment and collection bins.
26 Container Recycling Institute: http://www.container-
recycling.org/index.php/issues/bottle-bills
27 Some Kimberly-Clark products are eligible for this program.
28 Box Tops for Education:
http://www.boxtops4education.com/about
http://www.boxtops4education.com/about
http://www.container-recycling.org/index.php/issues/bottle-bills
https://returned.28
https://school.27
https://percent.26

“We’re getting back almost 50 percent of the bags remaining
after reuse,” Rozenski observed.
“A 50 percent recycling rate, there’s only one thing that beats
that: aluminum cans at 60 percent.
It’s actually one of the most recycled items already.”
The SLPFs wrapped around Kimberly-Clark products do not
have obvious reuse options, though,
and Rozenski sees the How2Recycle label as a key way to
increase consumer awareness of
recycling these films. “Recycling wise, we’ve done a terri ble
job as a society with plastics,” he
said. “We put a logo and number on there and that told you what
it is, and people had to go
online and look that up, find out what it is, and then look up
how you handle it. Nobody cares
what it is. They want to know what to do with it. That’s where
How2Recycle is cutting out two

or three of those steps and educating consumers.”
The Role of Rewards
Before joining the Closed Loop Fund, Croke worked at New
York-based Recyclebank, a
company that works with communities, waste management
companies, and businesses to
incentivize green actions, including recycling.29 In
communities with Recyclebank programs,
citizens can earn points for recycling, which they can redeem
for rewards like magazine
subscriptions and discounts at restaurants. Municipalities save
money on landfilling, which is
used to fund the rewards. Overall, the program increases
recycling rates, in some cases more than
doubling them, but Croke cautions against assuming these
changes resulted solely from the
introduction of rewards.
“Often we went in with several things at the same time, so there
was not a single variable,” she
elaborated. For example, the rewards program was often
introduced as part of the community’s
switch to single-stream recycling and the distribution of large
recycling carts, design shifts that
made recycling easier. “And we know from other programs that
recycling rates go way up when
people have to do less work.”
Rewards also need to be commensurate with the level of action
the consumer has to take. Croke
acknowledges that awareness is a challenge when it comes to
recycling SLPFs, but she also
believes asking consumers to take multiple steps to recycle
them is a substantial barrier. People

must remember to separate their bags and film wraps, put them
in their cars, take them to a store,
and correctly identify which films can and cannot go into the
store drop-off bin.
“It will take some testing to understand how much of a
motivation someone needs to make a
higher barrier action like a store return. I don’t know the answer
to that, but we do know that
economic messages definitely play a role. They impact people’s
behavior,” Croke said.
Still, there is risk with introducing a rewards program;
questions Croke raised include: What will
the cost of the program be and how will that change over time?
What is the consumer actually
getting? What will happen if the incentive goes away at some
point? What is the communication
to the customer in that instance? If the program were
discontinued, would that negatively affect
recycling in the long term?
Furthermore, some consumers in states with beverage container
deposits are not swayed by the
redemption value and may choose to recycle their bottles or
cans in the curbside bin because
doing so is convenient. Or, they may choose to throw away the
containers. “People who are
29 Recyclebank corporate info:
https://www.recyclebank.com/corporate-info/

https://www.recyclebank.com/corporate-info
busy, people with a certain level of affluence, there are a lot of
people who will just say, ‘I will

lose the five or ten cents,’” Croke said. In her work with
Recyclebank, she found that some
people actively redeemed points and some simply let them
accumulate. Company surveys
indicated that the program’s perceived value was sufficient to
influence some consumers’
behavior, even if they did not exchange their points for rewards.
Non-Reward Drivers of Recycling
Other factors can spur recycling, including awareness, which
can go beyond simply knowing
something is recyclable and how to recycle it. For example,
seeing one’s friends or co-workers
recycling, or discovering the severely negative consequences of
failing to act sustainably can each
spur action, suggested Ben Jarrett, who leads sustainability
marketing in North America for the
Kimberly-Clark Professional division. “My earliest memory of
being sustainable was cutting up
the six-pack rings from Tab to protect the turtles.” He recalled
watching cartoons on Saturday
morning and seeing advertisements promoting these kinds of
environmentally preferred actions.
“Those kinds of campaigns have power,” he said.
The Kimberly-Clark Professional division’s customers include
office buildings, health care
facilities, schools, hotels, and sports stadiums. Although the
packaging for these products is
largely corrugate, not plastic film, waste can quickly become an
issue with customers. For
example, customers may choose to switch from certain products
due to zero-waste or landfill-
diversion goals. “Nine times out of ten, when that happens, it’s
because someone in the

organization went out behind their building and saw the volume
of trash generated,” Jarrett
explained. “We don’t see those every day, but I think that
awareness would accelerate behavior
change. Still, to get widespread behavior change, there needs to
be a monetary incentive.”
In 2015, retailer Walmart began piloting the use of the
How2Recycle label on its private branded
products to understand how adding the label would affect
production. Through that pilot,
Walmart found a substantial lack of awareness among its
suppliers of what constitutes recyclable
packaging. In response, the retailer has taken several steps to
encourage suppliers to learn about
and use the How2Recycle label. In some cases, that process has
shown suppliers their packaging
is not recyclable and needs to be changed in order to be
considered recyclable. Walmart is now
planning to expand use of the label. “Before we go forward with
further promotion or advertising
about it, and I don’t mean advertising in the traditional sense
but just communicating about it, we
want to actually make sure it works and you can see it on our
products,” said Ashley Hall, a
senior manager on Walmart’s corporate sustainability team.
Access and convenience also encourage recycling. For example,
not all recycled SLPFs enter the
recycling stream through store drop-off. Trex collects plastic
film through drives at schools and
universities and in communities.30 Kimberly-Clark’s Neenah,
Wisconsin, campus, where about
3,000 employees work, recently held a How2Recycle drive to
collect SLPFs. “We received about
one thousand pounds within a month,” said Thompson, who

works at the Neenah campus.
“People are more than willing to bring things to avoid throwing
them in the landfill. If you tell
them you’ll take their plastic bags and use them for another
application, they will bring them to
you if they’re aware of the program.”
However, Thompson is skeptical that participation at the
Kimberly-Clark facility represents
general knowledge about and interest in returning films for
recycling. “I don’t think the general
30 Trex Recycling Programs:
http://www.trex.com/recycling/recycling-programs/
http://www.trex.com/recycling/recycling-programs
https://communities.30

consumer really worries or bothers about it at all. I say that
because I’ve gone to numerous
recycling facilities, and I generally see plastic packages in the
incoming loads. And they tell you
right on the recycle bins, no bags, no films,” Thompson
observed. He believes people continue to
put the films in the recycling bins because they don’t want them
to end up in landfills or because
they simply are not aware of the issues the bags cause local
municipalities. “However, along the
landfill boundaries are thousands of plastic shopping bags
clinging to fences or trees because they
blow in the wind. The How2Recycle program has done a great
job classifying materials through
its labels, but I still think people look at a bag and aren’t sure
what to do with it.”
Other Plastic Film Recycling Programs
Some communities are addressing the issue of plastic film

waste, either to increase revenues,
reduce costs, or both. For example, Stanford University—which
has dual-stream recycling
collection in which rigid plastics, glass, and metal are separated
from mixed paper—created a
collection program for plastic bags and films.31 Since 2002, the
films have been collected in
dedicated bins distributed throughout campus at locations where
films are common, such as the
bookstore. Just as trashcans are, the bins are lined with a plastic
bag. Once full, the bag is closed
and collected along with the mixed paper recycling. When the
collection trucks deposit their
loads at the recycling facility, most of the bags float through the
air, due to their very light
weight, to the top of the pile of mixed paper. Throughout this
process, the films remain clean and
dry. Once enough films accumulate, they are baled and sold. In
2012, the university collected
more than 8,000 pounds of plastic bags and films.
The city of Phoenix, Arizona, began a partnership in 200732
with local retailers to encourage store
drop-off of plastic shopping bags.33 The city owns its own
MRF and wanted to reduce
contamination, primarily plastic bags, that cost the MRF
approximately $1 million annually in
downtime. The partnership launched an education campaign that
included messages printed on
plastic bags, advertisements inserted into municipal utility bills,
and promotional campaigns at
school and neighborhood events. Most participating retailers
voluntarily placed recycling
containers in prominent places in their stores. The city
distributed reusable bags and committed
to measuring the change in disposable plastic bags received at

its MRF. Retailers committed to
monitoring the volume of bags deposited at select locations.
Three months after implementation, the MRF measured a 20
percent decrease in plastic bags
received; this decrease remained three months later. On an
annual basis, six grocery store chains
reported collecting a total of 1,300 tons of bags, increased
revenues from selling the collected
material, and decreased bag-purchasing expense resulting from
increased use of reusable bags.34
The Flexible Film Recycling Group (FFRG), a self-funded team
from the American Chemistry
Council, is bringing together governments, communities,
retailers, and other stakeholders to
address film recycling across the United States through their
Wrap Recycling Action Program
(WRAP), a national public education and outreach initiative.
WRAP’s goal is to double flexible
film recycling to 2 billion pounds by 2020. It is designed to
empower motivated stakeholders to
contribute to a common goal: to make plastic film packaging a
commonly recycled material with
a strong and ever-growing recycling rate
31 Plasticfilmrecycling.org success stories:
http://www.plasticfilmrecycling.org/successstory/stanford.html
32 Arizona Food Marketing Alliance’s Bag Central Station:
http://www.afmaaz.org/BagCentralStation/index.html
http://www.plasticfilmrecycling.org/successstory/bagcentralstati
on.html
on.html

on.html
https://Plasticfilmrecycling.org
on.html
http://www.afmaaz.org/BagCentralStation/index.html
http://www.plasticfilmrecycling.org/successstory/stanford.html
https://films.31

Their pilot public outreach campaign launched in Milwaukee in
2013. The campaign used film
recycling information signage, placed on front-of-store
collection bins at retail partner locations,
along with outreach by the city to educate consumers about
what plastic film could be recycled
and how to recycle it. In 2014 this campaign resulted in a 25%
increase in collection of film
beyond bags.
The learnings from Milwaukee shaped their 2015 WRAP
campaign in Vancouver, WA, which
was a partnership with Safeway/Albertsons, the city and county,
and other stakeholders. The
campaign took a multi-pronged approach to achieve two goals:
decrease the amount of plastic
film going into the local recycling facility and increase
collection of plastic film for recycling at
retail stores. To reach the first goal, the county waste authority
put tags on curbside carts at
homes to educate residents on the proper recycling of plastic
film through retail drop-offs. To
reach the second goal, the city offered residents a gift card to
view an educational video on the
plastic film recycling, and Safeway leveraged their established

plastic bag collection program to
amplify the city’s public outreach effort. Safeway utilized
WRAP communications tools,
including bins at the front of their stores with signage to show
consumers what plastic film could
be recycled and how. This direct communication and consistent
messaging resulted in a 125%
increase in film beyond bag material collected, and a 75%
reduction in plastic bag waste being
sent to the county’s recycling facility from a targeted area.
WRAP has subsequently launched in North Carolina and
Connecticut. WRAP has been effective
in increasing film recovery by providing motivated recyclers
with the proper information on how
to recycle flexible film packaging. Post-campaign surveys from
the Vancouver WRAP effort
reported that 82% of consumers value stores with plastic film
recycling programs, and the stores
have not experienced any issues with contamination. Through
these campaigns WRAP has
developed educational tools and best practices that can be found
at: Plasticfilmrecycling.org.
Developing and Implementing a Rewards Program
Because retailers can generate revenues by collecting and
selling plastic films, they will play a
key role in any successful consumer rewards program. However,
Opsteen is concerned about
contamination. In store drop-off recycling, contamination
occurs when consumers put non-
recyclable films or other materials into the store drop-off bins;
this dilutes the value of films to
retailers. Reports commissioned by the American Chemistry
Council to estimate plastic-film

recycling rates indicate that store drop-off films are mostly free
of contaminants.35 Still,
incentivizing recycling could change that. People voluntarily
returning films now are potentially
more likely to be aware of what is and is not recyclable than
people new to store drop-off
recycling. Opsteen also points to the same issue as Thompson—
that many people already put
plastic films into single-stream recycling bins due to lack of
understanding of what is and is not
recyclable.
“The worst case scenario would be if we encourage people to
bring something back, but the
system can’t retain the material value because of cross-
contamination or because the material’s
prepared in a way that’s not cost-effective for the retailer,”
Opsteen said.
https://contaminants.35

Contamination can also pose other problems. Contamination
could add costs or inefficiencies to
store operations or, in some cases, create a hazardous waste
issue for employees.
If a consumer rewards program were introduced, Hall would
like to see contamination data from
store drop-off programs at other retailers. To her, store drop-off
recycling is less about creating
competitive advantage and more about doing the best thing for

the customer and the environment.
So, she believes other retailers with that data would be willing
to share it.
To reduce contamination, Opsteen thinks stores could replace
the bins with a kiosk that includes a
scanner to read product UPC barcodes. As the consumer scans
each film, the kiosk would
indicate whether or not it is acceptable, thereby ensuring only
recyclable films are deposited. The
kiosk would need to be both simple enough that it works
quickly yet sophisticated enough that it
prevents contamination.
Getting consumers to use these kiosks would likely require a
rewards program. “I don’t think
consumers would scan packages out of the goodness of their
heart,” Walter said. “If there are
good incentives, they might do it, but I don’t think you could
ever expect consumers to do that
kind of work and not get something for it.”
Creating New Value through Store Drop-off Recycling
The form the rewards take could vary, and might include
coupons for Kimberly-Clark products or
entries into drawings for gift cards. “We don’t have to quantify
it yet,” Locke explained. “We
can leave it open and ask, ‘What is it going to take to get the
consumer to think, this is worth me
taking it back to the store and recycling it?’”
However, paying for those rewards and anti-contamination
measures like kiosks will likely
require collaboration across the existing film-recycling system
to identify new sources of value.

The material value of each film package is low, and the retailer
and the recycler capture that
value, not Kimberly-Clark.36
Opsteen has generated several ideas for potential value sources.
The return kiosk could be paired
with functionality added to the retailer’s loyalty program.
Through the enhanced loyalty app,
consumers could see photos of the products they purchased and
the specific value to them of
recycling the packaging. In response, consumers might both
increase their recycling and their
purchases of products with recyclable packaging. Some retailers
could also find new value in
store drop-off recycling. For a brick-and-mortar retailer, for
example, recycling incentives can
encourage people who primarily shop online to visit the store.
Another potential source of value is data on consumer behavior.
“The more data we have on our
consumers, the better—the better we’re able to serve them, the
better we’re able to communicate
with them,” elaborated Scott brand leader Ayana Green-Oliver.
Kimberly-Clark currently collects consumer data through
several channels, including surveys and
direct communications, such as emails to people who have
signed up for brand-specific offers.
Insights into customer preferences help drive sales, and these
channels help overcome the
36 The Closed Loop Fund, which supports film recycling in
other ways, does not invest in education or incentive
campaigns. However, if a rewards program were associated with
a new recycling program requiring an infrastructure
purchase like recycling carts, the Fund would consider investing

in carts or other equipment.
https://Kimberly-Clark.36

challenges presented by the fact that, for Kimberly-Clark, retail
purchases of its products are
largely anonymous. For example, research conducted for the
Scott paper towel brand found that
consumers evaluate the product, in part, based on its natural
health and environmental
characteristics. Some consumers see paper towels as wasteful
and may therefore feel guilty about
using them, so Kimberly-Clark wants to reassure buyers that its
products are not as harmful as
they might think. Packaging and the product itself are the two
primary ways Kimberly-Clark can
influence consumer perception, and encouraging consumers to
recycle packaging supports
positive brand perception.
The company’s research typically does not include questions
about consumer recycling of
packages, but these questions could be added to surveys.
However, according to Walter, the
company would not commission a study specifically to research
this behavior. She also points
out that “it’s one thing for a consumer to say, ‘Oh, I think that
recycling is important,’ but it’s
another thing for them to buy a product or change their
behavior.” A recycling rewards program
would give Kimberly-Clark data on actual behavior, which it
currently lacks. Such a program
might show recycling rates are higher than the company
expects. “If that’s the case, that would
provide information back to the business that maybe we do need
to do more to prioritize these
kinds of programs,” Walter said.

To Green-Oliver, data collected on recycling behavior around
SLPFs would also help draw a
more complete picture of customer preferences. In particular,
she would be interested in
information on (1) whether the consumer drops off one or two
films at a time or aggregates and
deposits several films at once, (2) whether the consumer drops
off the film at the store of
purchase or another store, (3) how much time elapses between
purchase and drop-off, (4) whether
recycling depends on the consumer living in a suburban or
urban area, and (5) how recycling
relates to income level and demographics. Related to rewards,
Green-Oliver would look at data
on (1) whether recycling the films is unusual behavior for the
consumer or consistent with other
environmentally preferred behaviors and (2) the extent to which
the consumer takes advantage of
the rewards program.
Although Hall could not comment specifically on the potential
for a rewards program, she noted,
“Walmart loves data. You can’t manage what you can’t
measure, so I definitely think data would
be interesting.”
Kimberly-Clark has a rewards program for its Huggies diapers
that rewards consumers for their
Huggies Diapers and Wipes purchases. Members can earn points
by purchasing the diapers and
wipes and then going online or using the program’s new
smartphone app to fill out surveys, read
articles, watch videos, or engage with the brand on Facebook or
Twitter. Rewards include
merchandise, gift cards, diapers, and sweepstakes entries.

Members can also choose to donate
their points to provide diapers to families in need. Until
recently, a unique code was printed on
the inside of each Huggies package; rewards members entered
these codes to earn points. Today,
members take a photo of their receipt instead. Through these
images, Kimberly-Clark will also
begin to capture data on other brands in its portfolio. Members
have the option to bypass
photographing receipts by linking their Huggies rewards
account to their loyalty card at
participating retailers.
Several factors drove the decision to move to a mobile-based
program: meeting the needs of
mothers on the go, reducing supply-chain complexity, and
addressing costs and fraudulent
consumer activity with the codes.

With any loyalty program, “you need to make sure there is a
lifetime value associated with how
many purchases you expect a consumer to make,” Green-Oliver
said. “And make sure that, with
whatever you have in your rewards catalog, the company can
also realize some benefit, but it’s
still a meaningful enough benefit that the consumer feels like
she’s getting something for her
additional effort.”
Green-Oliver both supports the idea of a loyalty program for
recycling and thinks Kimberly-Clark
has another opportunity to encourage behavior change among
sustainability-focused consumers.
Specifically, she believes the company could do a better job of
demonstrating how small,
individual contributions accumulate. In this case, that means
translating SLPF recycling into
tangible environmental impacts. “We need to do better at
communicating what we’re doing and
then reassuring consumers that, by supporting our brands, they
are in turn making a difference,”
she said.
Looking to the Future
As Opsteen and Locke survey the plastic film packaging
lifecycle, they remain committed to
leveraging the How2Recycle program to keep post-consumer

films out of landfills. They are also
open to new ideas about how to accomplish their goal,
particularly ideas for identifying shared
value across the plastic-film lifecycle. They hope to engage
stakeholders across the lifecycle to
further their work.
“Now, it’s time for us to start collaborating and thinking about
how we take the next steps,”
Opsteen added.
Case Discussion Questions

1. When it comes to meeting Kimberly-Clark’s post-consumer
product and packaging waste
goal, what are the critical challenges facing John Opsteen,
Daniel Locke, and the
company?
2. What challenges are facing retailers and recycling
companies?
3. Evaluate Kimberly-Clark’s idea to develop a program to
reward consumers for recycling
SLPF packaging. What are the potential benefits? What are the
potential downsides?
4. Is a consumer rewards program necessary for Kimberly-Clark
to reach its waste and
recycling sustainability goal? Why or why not? Consider the
three-step Fogg Method
described on page six.
5. If Kimberly-Clark proceeds with developing a rewards
program, what can it do to
encourage other entities in the plastic-film lifecycle to help
fund such a program?
6. If Kimberly-Clark does not develop a rewards program, what
should it do to meet its
waste and recycling sustainability goal?

Exhibit 1 Examples of How2Recycle Labels
Store Drop-Off plastic wrap label:
Multiple-Component label:
The different variations of the How2Recycle label:
Source: How2Recycle.info and How2Recycle presentation

materials

Exhibit 2 Selected Results from How2Recycle’s March 2016
Consumer Survey Report
Survey question: Do you consider yourself?
A good recycler: 54%
An excellent recycler: 36%
Just learning about recycling: 10%
N: 1,895*
How did you find out about How2Recycle?
Saw How2Recycle label on package: 72%
Other (media, word of mouth, Internet browsing): 28%
N: 1,895
Did the label and/or website teach you something you didn’t
already know?
Yes: 45%
Somewhat – helped refine my knowledge: 38%
No: 17%
N: 1,833
Did you change your recycling behavior based on the label
and/or website?
Yes: 50%
No: 50%
N: 1,833
What did you do differently? (Asked of those responding “yes”
to the behavior-change question.)
Recycled plastic bag or film via Store Drop-off: 46%
Recycled more: 16%
Recycled more accurately: 15%
Understood more about recycling: 8%
Will look for How2Recycle in the future: 7%

Replaced cap: 6%
Will change buying habits: 1%
Frustrated/no action: 1%
Cumulative number of respondents who have started to recycle
plastic bags and films at
the store as a result of the How2Recycle store drop-off label:
Early 2014: 158
Mid 2014: 218
Early 2015: 226
Mid 2015: 279
Early 2016: 320
If you saw the label on a product, is your impression of the
company that makes that product:
More positive: 77%
The same: 18%
Less positive: 5%
N: 892

Any specific reason why?
More positive: I believe the company:
Is helping me.
Cares about the environment.
Is being honest and transparent even if something is not
recyclable.
Is doing the right thing.
Has important sustainability goals.
Is demonstrating leadership.
Is more likely to be making packaging out of recyclable
material.
Same impression of the brand:
I expect this type of information.
I’m not sure if the company is taking other steps towards
sustainability.
I already had a positive/neutral/negative impression of this
company.
Less positive impression of the brand:
Disappointed that the package isn’t recyclable.
It doesn’t include the “recycling number.”37
It is confusing.
No information on international recycling.
*Not all survey respondents answered every question; therefore,
the Ns vary.
Source: How2Recycle’s March 2016 Consumer Survey Report
37 This number refers to the 1, 2, 5, 7, or other number often
printed inside the recycling symbol on packaging.

Structure BookmarksRewarding Consumers for Recycling
Packaging: Kimberly-Clark Seeks Shared Value Enabling
Recycling through the How2Recycle Program Raising Consumer
Awareness Going from Education to Behavior Change The
Market for Recycled Plastic Film Kimberly-Clark’s Packaging
Sustainability Goal Long-Term Packaging and Recycling
Alternatives What Drives Consumers to Recycle The Role of
Rewards Non-Reward Drivers of Recycling Other Plastic Film
Recycling Programs Developing and Implementing a Rewards
Program Creating New Value through Store Drop-off Recycling
Looking to the Future Case Discussion Questions Exhibit 1
Examples of How2Recycle Labels Exhibit 2 Selected Results
from How2Recycle’s March 2016 Consumer Survey Report
Abnormal Psychology Lecture Notes
Childhood Disorders
There are different mental disorders of childhood. Children can
become depressed, anxious, and even psychotic during this
period of the life span. It is a sad fact but true. In this unit we
will discuss many of the different childhood disorders. Two of
the most diagnosed disorders are ADHD and Autism Spectrum
Disorder. We will begin with a discussion of these two
disorders.
Reading #1 and Reading #2
Let’s start with one that I’m sure you have heard about.
Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) This disorder
involves 3 major symptoms:
a) Inattention—Children cannot focus their attention on
particular aspects of their environment for long periods of time
(e.g., listening to the teacher). They are easily distracted by
irrelevant stimuli, and may jump from activity to activity.
b) Impulsivity-Children with ADHD evidence impulsive actions
in which they behave before they think (e.g., darting out of a

car as soon as mom opens the door).
c) Hyperactivity—These children are always on the go. They
fidget, require little sleep, and display excessive amounts of
energy.
Now, one of the primary treatments for this disorder is
pharmacological. You have likely heard of the drug Ritalin, a
commonly prescribed medicine for this disorder. Two other
drugs you may have heard of are Adderall and Cylert. Drug
treatment for children is not without its concerns as there can be
side effects (e.g., stunted growth, insomnia).
Please watch this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgCL79J v0lc
Reading #2
Autism Spectrum Disorder-The symptoms of this disorder run
along a spectrum, from mild to severe. Thus, children diagnosed
with this disorder manifest differing levels of symptoms and the
need for help/intervention. This disorder is characterized by
deficits in communication and social interaction. Here are some
specific symptoms:
1) Eye Contact-Those with this disorder may fail to establish
eye contact in social interactions.
2) Perseveration-This involves repeating some phrase over and
over again.
3) Pronomial Reversal-This involves the incorrect use of a
pronoun. For instance, A child with Autism might state: “You
want Milk.” What they actually meant was that they are the one
who wants milk.
4) Echolalia-This involves repeating what someone else has just
said. For instance, if one were to say: “Hi Billy” the child
would with Autism would respond: “Hi Billy.”
5) Echopraxia-This involves mimicking what another person has
done (e.g., scratching one’s nose after seeing someone else
scratch their nose).
Other behaviors commonly seen include;
a) Stereotyped or Repetitive Actions-Some individuals engage
in these types of behaviors over and over again (e.g., spinning a

toy on the floor for hours).
b) Need For Order or Sameness-Routines might be important for
some with this disorder and they may become upset if not
followed.
The intellectual level of those with this disorder may vary,
depending on the severity of the illness.
***There is a link to an informative video on page 3 of Reading
#2. Click the word video that is highlighted in blue.
Here is a video that demonstrates the symptoms of Autism in a
family in which the children all have the disorder.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7NeBs5wNOA
Disruptive Behavior Disorders
Oppositional-Defiant Disorder-This is a kid who is not a happy
camper!
Look at the terms—They oppose others and they defy. They
argue with adults. Kids with this behavior disorder get mad
easily. They can be mean, spiteful, and vindictive. Whoa!! This
child may get into trouble, but never believes that he/she is
wrong, always blaming others for their misdeeds.
Here is the link to a good overview of this disorder and its
diagnosis and treatment:
https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-
diseases/oppositional-defiant-disorder
Here is the link to a brief informative video on this disorder:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEiVOMHCjbQ
Conduct Disorder
Int his disorder we see children and teens who exhibit
Antisocial or criminal type behavior. These kids will lie, steal,
vandalize, set fires, use drugs, skip school, and harm animals.
This is a very serious disorder that needs intervention.
Otherwise, if the symptoms have not remitted by the age of 18
the diagnosis of Antisocial Personality Disorder will likely be
given. Many of these children end up spending time in juvenile
detention centers.
Here is the link to a good article highlighting the symptoms,
causes, and treatment of this disorder.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/conditions/conduct-
disorder
Attachment Disorders
1) Separation Anxiety Disorder-Children with this disorder have
tremendous fears that something bad will happen to a parent
when they are not together. They may have a difficult time
sleeping alone, attending school, or staying at a friend’s home.
In essence, they have “over-bonded.” They may manifest
physical symptoms (e.g., tummy aches) to avoid school. Parents
who give into their demands to cling only serve to reinforce and
thereby prolong the behavior.
2) Reactive Attachment Disorder-In this disorder children will
have significant problems bonding with others. They will rarely
seek out an adult for comfort when upset and may resist the
affection others. This disorder is typically caused by a failure of
bonding at an early age possibly due to repeated changes in
caregiver, abuse and or neglect of the child’s needs.
Childhood Schizophrenia
You learned about the different symptoms of schizophrenia in
Unit #2. Sadly, there are children who develop this illness. The
prognosis for those diagnosed at a young age is not good, as
many go on to experience this illness into their adult years.
Here is a short video that highlights a child with this illness:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-LWQDCefPw
Intellectual Disability
Intelligence (IQ)
IQ means “Intelligence Quotient.” It is a number that is derived
from a standardized intelligence test and indicates one’s level of
intelligence. Below you will see a normal or bell curve
depicting how IQ or any other measured trait (e.g., adult height)
is distributed in the population. Down the center of any normal
curve is the average. So, in this case the average IQ score is
100. As you deviate to the right of the average the IQ scores
increase. Similarly, as you deviate to the left the IQ scores
decrease. Notice that most people (34.1% + 34.1% = 68.2%)

have an IQ score between 85 and 115.
Also notice that as you deviate away from 100 (in either
direction) the percentages decrease. For instance, only about 2%
of the population has an IQ score of 130 and above. An IQ score
of 130 is considered to be “superior” intelligence.
The same is true on the opposite side. An IQ below 70 or 75
begins what is termed Intellectual Disability. Those with this IQ
level account for about 2% of the population.
In order to be diagnosed with Intellectual Disability one must
manifest deficits in IQ level and adaptive functioning (e.g.,
appropriate social interactions, self-care).
The are 4 degrees of Intellectual Disability (Mild, Moderate,
Severe, and Profound). Most persons diagnosed with
Intellectual Disability fall within the mild range.
Here is the link to a document (see page 3) that has a chart
describing the 4 degrees of Intellectual Disability:
https://www.oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15333/student/
?task=1
There are multiple causes of Intellectual Disability. This
disorder can result from genetic issues such as Down Syndrome,
whereby an extra chromosome appears on the 21st pair. Another
cause that has received much attention is prenatal exposure to
alcohol. Those whose mothers drank during pregnancy may be
born with a disorder known as Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. The
symptoms of this disorder may include intellectual disability
and hyperactivity.
Watch this informative video on this syndrome:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfbztgLafPY&t=8s
Learning Disorders (Disabilities)

There are different types of Leaning Disorders (LD).
1) Dyslexia-This is known as Reading Disorder. Those with this
disorder have difficulty with reading. They may reverse letters
(e.g., confusing the letter b and d), or read words backwards
(saw and was).
2) Dysgraphia-This is known as Writing Disorder. The issue
here is problems producing legible handwriting,
3) Dyscalculia-This is known as Math Disorder. This disorder
involves issues with mastering the use of mathematical
concepts.
Now, the issue with LD is not one of intelligence. To be
diagnosed with an LD one must demonstrate at least an average
IQ. The disability part stems from the fact that they have the
intellect but are falling short in one of these areas.
See page 3 of this document for a discussion of LD’s.
https://www.oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15334/student/
?task=3

Date January 1, 2019 B588

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